Shapeshifting
"Dwell in my body, o' great spirit of the cat. Let me tread on the earth, and dine on the blood of the beasts of the Land" Shapeshifting, sometimes called shapechanging/'shapestealing' is a powerful magickal ability considered one of the forbidden magicks, allowing one to change their form into that of an animal or of another person. This is because in most cases, it is synonymous with skinstealing, an ability accessed only through cannibalism or inherited magickally, and eventually traceable to a cannibal (as in the case of Lycanthropy). Skinstealers are often derided as wahk, a word from True-Tongue meaning simply abomination. This is inaccurate, as not all skinstealers are wahk, though all wahk are skinstealers. Shapeshifting abilities are generally facilitated through regeneration via alchemical transmutation. A notable exception to this is Calthoss the Shadow & the Shine, both of whom have no concrete appearance, and change the way they look within the minds of those who observe them. Generally they take on the appearance of those who observe them, colored solid black in the case of the Shadow, or colored solid white in the case of the Shine. Fogmen are capable of shapeshifting without resorting to cannibalism, and retain this ability if they become a lych. Theoretically, if they did resort to cannibalism, which has never happened, they would most likely experience the adverse psychological effects of cannibalism. These effects are of an anomalous nature, and fills the skinstealer with the intense desire to keep eating people. In the future of Huron Space it is found that this cannibalistic desire extends even to aliens. That is to say a raving human cannibal would gladly choose a human victim over a Mur victim, and a Mur victim over a dog, and a dog over a cow. Cannibalism does not automatically give one skinstealing abilities, especially if done in survival situations. It has been worked out by scientists and wyzards that whether one gets abilities or not correlates strongly with their Magickal-Measurement, and if the cannibalistic act was not necessary. Humans in the Kals with lychblood running through their veins (that is to say some of their ancestors were lyches who mated with humans in the form of humans) also become wahk if they become a skinstealer. It has been noted that skinstealers on that Earth also feel an anomalously-strong urge to mate with animals. This has resulted in most of the catamounts and sabre-toothed cats of that Earth being at least partially human, and having a human-like scream, which various Skinstealer Cults of the Kals have mimicked using death whistles. The Skinstealer Isles are named for the large amount of people living there with this ability. In most cases, this power seems to be inherited, but has also grown weaker as a result of this, because the closest thing, lycanthropy, is a full-blown disease, and not merely an inherited ability. Nearly all men in the Tongue Tribe are skinstealers who steal and eat the tongues of their enemies after cutting out their own, and go through a magickal ritual which allows them to steal the voices of their victims. This is merely a very weak version of skinstealing, and it may be that very many of them are capable of doing much and more with the power. Combat: Category:Forbidden Magicks Category:Magicks